Can you identify The Unusual Suspects?

With Recycle Week 2016 about to take place between 12-18 September 2016, we want to thank residents of the Western Riverside area for all the great recycling that’s being done, and to tell you about a few Unusual Suspects.

We know residents recycle plastic drinks bottles, food and drink cans, jam jars, cardboard boxes and newspapers, but “The Unusual Suspects” such as aerosol cans and toilet roll tubes; “The Unusual Suspects” are often missed. There are lots of places around the home that “The Unusual Suspects” can be found – can you hunt them down? What’s hiding in the bathroom or bedroom? Paper and cardboard items such as toothpaste boxes and tissue boxes are lurking. If everyone in the UK recycled one toothpaste box, it would save enough energy to run a fridge in over 2,000 homes for a year.

Keep an eye out for aluminium deodorant and air freshener aerosol cans. If everyone in the UK recycled one aluminium deodorant aerosol can, enough energy could be saved to vacuum over 480,000 homes for a year. Or, if everyone in the UK recycled one air freshener aerosol can, enough energy could be saved to run a fridge for over 91,000 homes for a year!

Taking a shower? The unusual suspect might be in there with you. Plastic shampoo, shower gel and moisturiser bottles can be recycled too. In the kitchen the unusual suspects help to keep things clean – washing up liquid bottles, soap dispensers, bleach bottles and spray cleaners can all be recycled. Just remember, please remove the lids where you can.

Mark Broxup, General Manager of the Western Riverside Waste Authority, said:

“Recycle Week is an ideal time for Western Riverside residents to really take a fresh look at their recycling habits, and to see if there are more opportunities to recycle even more items. There are lots of items that can be recycled, but some are lesser known or more “unusual” than others, and so that’s what we are trying to raise awareness of”.

There are many great benefits to recycling, as many materials can be recycled over and over again with no loss of quality. Your recycling is delivered to a Recycling Facility in Smugglers Way in Wandsworth, SW18, where the materials are sorted and separated into different types of materials before being sent to manufacturers who make if into new products. This saves resources, helps the environment, reduces energy use and supports a thriving recycling economy.